BICYCLE CAMERAS ACTING AS BLACK BOXES IN ACCIDENTS

Head cams can straighten out rocky coexistence with motorists

WASHINGTON 
When Evan Wilder went flying onto the pavement during his bicycle commute one morning here, he didn’t have time to notice the license plate of the blue pickup truck that had sideswiped him after its driver hurled a curse at him. Nor did a witness driving another car.

But the video camera Wilder had strapped to his head caught the whole episode.

“Without the video, we wouldn’t know who did it,” said Wilder, 33, who was bruised and scraped.

Cyclists have long had a rocky coexistence with motorists and pedestrians. Now small cameras — the cycling equivalent of the black box on an airplane — are becoming an intermediary in the relationship, providing high-tech evidence in what is sometimes an ugly contest between people who ride the roads on two wheels and those who use four.

Footage from these cameras has begun to play an invaluable role in police investigations of a small number of hit-and-runs and other incidents around the country, local authorities say. Lawyers who specialize in representing bicyclists say they expect the use of cameras for this purpose to increase as awareness of the devices goes up and their prices, starting at about $200, come down.

The cameras are meant for shooting video and photos while skiing, surfing and doing other sports. Likewise, many cyclists use them to memorialize their rides.

GoPro and Contour make popular models; GoPro says sales through bike retailers have nearly doubled this year from the same period last year.

The footage Wilder shot of his crash in Washington, which occurred last August, at first did not seem as if it would help much in tracking down the motorist who had struck him.

But Wilder, who works in the photography department of National Geographic, examined the video frame by frame until he discovered a clear picture of the suspect’s license plate, captured while he was lying on the ground.

The District of Columbia’s office of the attorney general charged the suspect, John W. Diehl, with leaving the scene of an accident.

Federal prosecutors, who handle felony cases in the district, are also looking into the case.

Diehl’s lawyer, Adam R. Hunter, declined to comment.

Diehl has pleaded not guilty, said a spokesman for the attorney general.

“Most cyclists don’t use cameras, so Mr. Diehl may have assumed he could assault and drive away anonymously,” Wilder said.